6 ways to keep your heart ticking

Dr. Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist and founder of the South Beach Diet has composed 6 ways that has worked for him over the years to keep hims healthy and problem free. After 62 years he has no major problems with his heart or body and has only been affected by some few basic problems such as the flu, colds, and some heart burn.

1. His first step is eating reguraly meaning 3 square meals a day and a snack or too. Now he obviously eats better foods because his food budget is most likely much larger than ours. But his diet covered the basics and pretty much covered the food pyramid. He had his omelet with some green tea which can be substitued for OJ or milk. Then for lunch he had some fish for lunch with some fresh veggies. And for dinner he either has some some sort of meat either fish, chicken or red meat with some more veggies staying away from foods high in starch. And for his snacks he has some pretty fancy things, which i'll just let you know you can grab some fruit or cold veggies, or even nuts, high fiber bars, or mozzarella sticks


2. As always he gives the tip to indulge in moderation. He said he still likes his dark chocolate but you must limit yourself to only a few pieces each day. And if you do have a dessert during the day limit yourself to just one.


3. He also advises to exercise early and reguraly. His exercises include a significant warm session of stretching and the 20-30 minutes of cardio training increasing low and high intensity. And on the weekends he involves himself in recreational activites such as golf, tennis, or even some boxing occasionally.


4. He suggest to go easy on the supplements. He rationalizes that a good diet with give you a variety of the nutreients your body needs and there is no reason to add anymore than you need. He said it is good to take a multi vitamin and also some benefiber and fish oil which contains Omega 3 fatty oils for your heart.


5. GET SLEEP!!! It is a best suited for your heart if you get the recommended 8 hours of sleep to rest your body.


6. Cultivate closeness with family. Studies have shown that spending time with loved ones and having a strong social network will help to reduce heart dieases and stress on the body. Although he didn't say anything about whether or not it's you in laws.

Whats the best machine to use for cardio?

Many people over the years have talked about which machine you should use to get the best results on cardio. Their are people who swear by the treadmill, and then there are others who say its bad for your knees and that you should use a bike or elliptical. Even though all of those opinions are right they're also wrong. The truth is there is no perfect machine that will give you the best results, but rather it's how you use them.

To get the best results out of your workouts you're going to need to mix it up a little bit and get on them all. Granted if you jump on a machine you don't like too much you probably wont workout as hard because you're not enjoying it. But you got to suck it up! Jumping on various machines will be refreshing for you because you won't be doing the same thing every time you jump in the gym, making working out feel not like a chore to you. And also varying the machines will give you a workout in different areas of your body such a bike compared to a treadmill while you're still keeping that heart rate up and burning calories and shedding off the pounds. Switching machines will break the boredom and ultimately keep your body more fit because it will keep the body challenged.